Celebrating Another Birthday

My 'biological odometer' turned over another year today.  The celebrating began yesterday when my daughter took me to lunch at Presley's in the David Whitney building, downtown Detroit.  I ordered a Mediterranean Salad.

It was so enjoyable having mother/daughter time.

Foyer of the David Whitney building, and entrance to Presley's.

This afternoon my hubby took me to The White Horse Inn in Metamora for my birthday dinner.  Metamora is known for being an equestrian community.  It's often referred to as Michigan Horse Country.

I knew before we went that I would order their Honey Plum Salmon.  It's SOOO good!

I ordered a pot of Bigelow's Pomegranate Green Tea to go with my meal.

Since it was my birthday, we got a complimentary plate of their chocolate chip cookies, which they're known for.  They came with a sparkler instead of a candle.

 

Before leaving we posed for a picture in front of their fireplace.

I made four different baked goods to take to The Whitney tomorrow.  I'm like the child who takes cupcakes to school for their birthday!  ;-)  First row:  Chocolate chip pumpkin bread.  On top of them are butterscotch brownies.  Second row: Buckeye brownie cookies.  Center: 7-layer cookies.  It was fun baking and putting the tray together.

My celebrating will be complete on Sunday when we go out to eat with my son, Steve, and his family after church.  #79 is off to a good start! 

Happy February and Groundhog Day

We began the second month of 2026 yesterday.  Didn't we just celebrate Christmas?? February is my birth month when my biological odometer rolls over another year!

I saw a cute picture on the Internet today where the groundhog was arrested for for predicting six more weeks of winter.  ;-)

Long ago in history, the groundhog wasn't just the forecaster - he was the dinner!  Eww!  Before there was Groundhog Day there was Candlemas in Britain and Europe.  The medieval belief for this Christian feast day was if the sun shown brightly on Candlemas, more winter was on the way.  If clouds covered the sky, spring would arrive early.  German settlers carried the tradition across the Atlantic swapping the European hedgehog for the American groundhog,  and early 1800's Pennsylvania farmers celebrated "Grundsaudaag" with weather predictions and hearty winter feasts that featured groundhogs roasted, stewed or barbecued.  The chubby rodent supposedly tasted somewhere between pork and chicken after a long soak in brine before cooking.  Another description has it tasting like rabbit but dark and mildly gamey like wild boar.  Either way, I'm thankful the tradition has died away!

That made me wonder if any teas have been blended for Groundhog's Day.  And sure enough, there has!  Adagio Teas has a high caffeine signature tea blended with strawberry black tea, vanilla oolong, and chocolate Chai Pu-Erh tea.

And Full Leaf Tea Company has a Groundhog Day collection featuring winter-to-spring transition teas.  Who knew?!

I smiled when I saw the graphic my friend, Linda, posted on Facebook recently.  So true!

Since we're going to have six more weeks of winter, here's three excellent faith-based movies on Netflix to watch while you're hunkered down inside your comfy home.  If you don't have Netflix, check other streaming platforms.

Overcomer [2019]

The War Room [2015]  Not to be confused with the 1993 documentary of the same name.

 Facing the Giants [2006]

Kleenex is necessary for all three!  They're marked as leaving Netflix soon, but supposedly will remain thru February.  These days decent movies aren't plentiful, but these are really good.  Thank you, Netflix!  I've got three more on my list to watch soon. 

An Enjoyable Afternoon

I ventured out today to have lunch with my son, Steve, at the Rochester Brunch House [which formerly housed the Village Shoe Inn].  We had a nice time visiting, then drove over to The Spice & Tea Exchange on 4th Street.

Phil Munroe, the owner [along with his wife, Maryanne] attends a men's Bible study with Steve. He has a wonderful testimony about how he became a Christ follower in 2017.  His career impressively includes being managing partner and wine buyer at Somerset Mall's Capital Grill before he and his wife became owners of two Michigan Spice & Tea Exchange franchises and b.e. Boutique of Rochester, right next door to the Spice & Tea Exchange.   

The Rochester location opened in October 2022 and they sell over 70 different loose-leaf teas, in addition to a wide range of spices, olive oils, extracts and more.

~ Phil & Steve ~

I didn't take many pictures inside the store since customers were shopping, but I did get a photo of their tea bar.  When we were leaving Phil asked if I wanted a tea 'to go' so I opted for their Elderberry Fortress - their #1 selling herbal tea.

Steve got me two green teas to enjoy at home.   Phil said the Pineapple Paradise is a top seller.

I also brought this home with me.

Time with Steve and tea was a winning combination for an enjoyable afternoon!

On another subject for old times sake...

You never know what family stories or illustrations are going to pop up in one of Steve's sermons.  Recently he shared his childhood recollections when merthiolate or mercurochome were used on his scrapes.   I think every home from the 1940's thru the 1970's had a bottle in the medicine cabinet and first aid kit.  Steve said many people made comments to him about the antiseptic [and their memories of it] after church or in a text.  So when my friend, Angela, posted the picture below on Facebook earlier this week with the question, "Anybody else who can just read the word "Mercurochrome" and wince?  I had to send it to him.

Do you remember the antiseptic?  It was around when I was a kid too!  It's still around today minus the mercury content.

Enjoy the last two days of January, and if the recent winter storm has impacted you, stay warm and be safe!

Wintering

Wintering and Winter Unfiltered were words I saw on Facebook this morning on my iPhone.  I took the photo below from my front porch shortly after I got up this morning. Snow is beautiful to look at from inside a warm, cozy home, but not great for driving in.  I'm glad today isn't a work day for me.  Two days ago a massive 100 car pile-up occurred on an expressway on the western side of the state during a snow squall.

January is National Hot Tea Month and January 12th was National Hot Tea Day, but in wintry weather like we're having, everyday is hot tea day.

  

I did my part to support national hot tea month by ordering a pound of my favorite Blueberry Green tea from Harney & Sons.  It arrived a few days ago.

I got out my snowman teapot and teacup by Gracie China to enjoy it in.

My son from Zeeland texted me a photo of him enjoying a cup of Harney & Son's Victorian London Fog tea during the snow storm.  [No affiliation to Harney Teas except a loyal fan.  I've never had one of their teas I didn't like.]

What do you do when you're homebound during a snow storm? I finally dismantled the Christmas tree to put it away for another year.  I justified keeping it up this long because I didn't get it up until a week before Christmas, but my daughter and daughters-in-law still have their tree up so I don't feel too bad.  My incentive for taking it down now is because I'm having a couple of ladies [two sisters] from church over for tea this coming Tuesday.  I thought it might seem strange having a Christmas tree still up when it's almost Valentine's Day.

January is also National Soup Month.  Campbell's founded it in 1986.  I'm doing pretty good supporting that too.  I've made three different soups so far this month and another [Cream of Cauliflower] is on the agenda. 

Are you enjoying tea and soup this month?

White Horse Inn

Yesterday we met up with our son, Steve, daughter-in-law, Sharon, granddaughter, Brooke, and daughter, Lori, for 3:30 dinner reservations at the historic White Horse Inn in Metamora, MI - about 45 miles from where we live.  It was to celebrate Steve & Sharon's 33rd wedding anniversary [December 26th] and Steve's belated birthday dinner. 

I had been to the White Horse Inn somewhere between 2001-2006 with my girlfriend, Sandy, when we went to Lucy's tearoom on the 2nd floor of the inn.  Regrettably, neither of us took photos.  It was named after Lucy Hoard, the wife of Lorenzo Hoard, who bought the historic building in 1850. The Wilkins family - former owners - established the tearoom to honor her. Sadly it's no longer part of the restaurant.

Because I love history, I spent time today reading articles and watching YouTube videos about the inn and Metamora.  In 2025 the Village of Metamora had a population of 605 people.   The small, quaint, rural village was established in 1836.

The originl building that houses the inn turned resturant was built in 1848 as a general store. It was purchased in 1850 by Lorenzo Hoard and converted into a stage coach stop and inn called Hoard House.  In 1872 Michigan Central Railroad built its line through Metamora and Hoard received the franchise to feed and house overnight passengers on stage coaches or trains as well as stable horses.  It's also rumored that it was a stop on the underground railroad.

There were a few other owners from 1906 to 1923 and its name transitioned from Hoard House to White Horse Inn.  In 2012 the Inn abruptly closed its doors after years of wear, tear and neglect.  The current husband and wife team bought it and completely restored it and reopened it in November 2014.  It holds the title of Michigan's Oldest Restaurant and is said to be haunted by Mr. Hoard.

 ~ East High Street Entrance ~

Sharon made reservations for us to dine in one of the four igloos that are open November thru the first of March.  Each igloo accommodates 6-10 guests for a two hour time period.

The igloos are named and have a theme - ours was Narnia.  I've heard about the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis but have never read the books or watched the series, but I plan to now. To include tea in this post, I read that C.S. Lewis was a significant tea drinker. He viewed it as a simple yet profound comfort and often paired it with his reading and writing. He wrote the well-known quote: "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

We entered the igloo through a literal wardrobe - a nod to one of the books, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published book in the series.

There were at least three heaters in the igloo so it was warm and comfortable.  When we entered, the table was set for 10 but the server removed four of the place settings for our group. The centerpiece was Aslan the great lion [the good character in the Chronicles of Narnia] and Jadis, the white witch, the evil character.

~ Steve and Sharon ~

Jerry had cataract surgery on both of his eyes in December and doesn't need glasses now.  Dr. says he has 20-20 vision.  He looks a little different without them.

~ Lori and Brooke ~

The food was excellent.  Three of us ordered salmon, Steve got a steak, Sharon got roast beef and Brooke got a shrimp appetizer to share and a burger.  We all enjoyed what we ordered. Below is a picture of Lori's entree.  My sides were sweet potato fries and a green bean/broccoli medley.  I'm hungry just looking at the photo!

If you're a local reader, I highly recomment going to the White Horse Inn.  We hope to go back soon.

Thank You & Year in Review

A warmhearted Thank You for the kind and affirming comments made about my blog in response to my Dec. 31st post, and for visiting.  

2025 had the least amount of posts since my blogging began - only 73, so I had fewer posts/pictures to choose from when putting Year in Review together, but it was a good year.  

~ January ~

Following the death of former President Jimmy Carter, I purchased the Carter Family Favorites cookbook, and made a Peanut Butter Pie in his honor.

~ February ~

A Valentine's Day luncheon for two friends.

~ March ~

A Saint Patrick's Day tea with my hubby and friends.

One of the managers at The Whitney

~ April ~

Ladies Spring Tea at Church

~ May ~

Mother's Day with three of my greatest blessings.

~ June ~

Tea at Clara J's with girlfriend, Sandy.

~ July ~

Celebrating granddaughter Ellie's 13th birthday on July 4th.

~ August ~

A Celebration of two lives... My daughter's 58th birthday and my brother's burial.

~ September ~

A visit with a girlfriend since grade school.  Elaine now lives in Florida.

~ October ~

The Pink House Tearoom with dear friend, Lori.

~ November ~

Thanksgiving at Steve & Sharon's House & Celebrating Hubby's 79th B-day.

~ December ~

Ladies' Christmas Tea at Church - my Nutcracker themed table.

Mary Frances tea time purse - a gift from my children and grandchildren.

Celebrating Jesus' Birthday, our greatest gift of all!

Candlelight service on December 21st as we sang Silent Night.

Here's to another year!